O.K. Took a break from Dragon Kings (Shamless Plug tm) to give this a once
over and found it fit to post. (faint, fall down!)
So, here goes....

*************************************************


 Mender made his rounds, checking on the youma who where healing in the
pools, keeping the High youma's chamber for last, as always. He knew Nephlyte
had another week, at least, in the healing waters before he would emerge.
Still, it was his duty as Mender to check on them regularly.

 He opened the door, his eye's flicking over the beautifully carved table and
chair and the little wardrobe that hugged the far wall, a stack of neatly
folded furs next to it. Althea had refused his offer of a bed, preferring
instead to sleep nestled against Shadow-spawn. He had dug into his 'dragon
hoard' and given her five of the softest and best furs he could find for her
to spread on the floor for their mattress. The High youma, out of the pool,
dripping wet and leaning against the wall for support startled him.

 "Nephlyte! What are you doing? You are not yet healed!" Mender hurried
toward him, squinting at the wound on the High youma's chest. No, he
shouldn't be out at all.

 "Where is she?" Nephlyte rumbled at him, the furious fire in his eye's
stopping Mender dead in his tracks.

 "Out hunting with Shadow-spawn." Mender felt a cold knot of fear start in
his gut. "Why? What has happened?"

 Nephlyte shook his head, still groggy and confused. "Something...I don't
know..."

 "Well, now, it can't be anything too terrible. Shadow-spawn exists only to
protect her, and that he will do. So, let me help you back into the pool and
I will go and find them. She probably fell off and sprained her ankle, or
something similar." Mender knew he was babbling as he closed the distance
cautiously between them but he really wanted to get Nephlyte back into the
pool. The High youma was still very weak and he didn't need him thundering
about attracting undesired attention until he was able to use his powers to
keep both himself and Althea safe.

 "No. Get me some clothes." Nephlyte waved him off as he forced himself
straight, pushed away from the wall.

 "Nephlyte, I really must insist..."

 "Clothes. Now. If you try to put me back in there, I'll kill you." The words
were flat and calm.

 Mender had no doubt that if he did try, Nephlyte, even in this terribly
weakened condition, could and would. He tried a different track of reasoning,
getting desperate.

 "Aurora," he purposefully reminded himself to use her new name, "will not be
happy to see you out and not healed. She wishes to go home and as you are now
you will not be able to take her or even protect her. Please, return to the
pool."

 "When I see for myself that she is all right, then I will consider it. Now,
get me some clothes!" He knew he would have to return to the waters. The pain
from the wound itself was tolerable, this brittle feeling and light-headed
weakness was not. But he would not go back in until he'd made sure Aurora was
all right. He wondered again what power she held over him, why her safety
overrode all of his instincts for self preservation.  

 Mender 'tsk'-ed to himself, not letting any of his worry for Althea or
Shadow-spawn show as he went to the wardrobe and pulled out the towels and
clothing he had put there in anticipation of the High youma's emergence.
Well, at least Nephlyte had agreed to return to the pool. Now all Althea,
*Aurora* he reminded himself, had to do was show up undamaged.

 *Please, Althea, don't be hurt!* He wished he could offer that prayer to the
Light, didn't dare send it into the Darkness.

 Nephlyte made it to the chair, sank down, even those few steps almost beyond
his strength. He growled softly to himself in frustration. Mender wisely
didn't say anything, just set the towels and clothes in easy reach on the
table.

 "I will go and get my healing things while you dress. Please leave the shirt
off so I can get a bandage and some salve on that hole so you don't do too
much damage to what healing you have allowed yourself to accomplish." With
that, he strode from the room.

 Nephlyte grumbled at Mender's insolent scold as he reached for a towel and
began wiping the thick liquid off his body. *Did Mender say she was with
Shadow-spawn?*  He had a vague recollection of seeing Aurora sleeping against
the horse-youma's side, then shook his head. He must have heard Mender wrong
and that vision come from the delirium of his pain. He started toweling dry
his hair and focused on gathering enough strength to get up and search for
her if she hadn't returned by the time Mender had finished with him.

 Mender hoped that Aurora would be back by the time he returned with the
supplies, saving him from having to put on a bandage he'd just have to take
right back off. He could have just summoned them to him, but he wanted the
time it would take to walk to his rooms and back. *Well,* he thought to
himself, *that was one thing that hadn't changed in the High youma. He still
had Nathan's stubborn temper.*

 He had a hard time keeping his concentration on his doctoring, beginning to
truly worry now. Nephlyte had just finished pulling on his shirt with a few
hisses of pain as the movement pulled at the injury when a huge booming crash
reverberated through the cliff where Mender had made his home, Shadow-spawns
roaring scream and the bell like thunder of his hooves echoed through the
main hallway for a second, then disappeared.

 Nephlyte looked to the door, startled. Mender took a gasping breath as he
realized what that sudden appearance and cut-off of sound meant. He shoved
Nephlyte back against the wall as he flattened himself against it also.
 *He's 'blinking'? Oh no! Althea!*

 Shadow-spawn appeared, haunches tucked under him and front legs splayed and
ridged as he fought to stop in the small space. He stopped just short of the
wall, his body quivering with strain.

 Nephlyte instinctively reached for power that wasn't there yet. He growled
in frustration, hefted the chair in both hands ignoring the yowl of pain from
his chest as he brought it up over his shoulder to fend off the shadow horse
if it should decide to attack. Like the other High youma, he had had his own
painful run in with Shadow-spawn.

 The chair fell from his nerveless fingers as he recognized the form that
huddled against the youma's back. "Aurora?" He was at Shadow-spawns side
before Mender could move, reaching up to pull her down to him. She pulled
away from his hands, huddled closer to the arch of the youma's neck.

 "Wait." Mender told him, touching his outstretched arms gently with one hand
as he came up beside him. "Shadow-spawn, if you would?"

 Nephlyte stepped back with stunned amazement as the youma tucked his legs,
lowering himself carefully to the ground so he would jar his burden as little
as possible. Mender murmured soothing sounds as he gently untangled Aurora's
hands from his mane, nodded for Nephlyte to take her off.

 He knelt next to the youma and carefully lifted her off. She let out a
little mew of pain, her body shuddering and teeth chattering with cold and
barely conscious from jumping in and out of nothingness so many times. She
pressed both hands to the sides of the rose and kept as curled up as possible
as he took her into his arms, leaning her back against his chest. His whole
being quivered in anguish at that little sound.

 "Shadow-spawn, move." Mender pushed at the youma's shoulder.

 Shadow-spawn rose and moved his body out of the way but kept his head
hovering close to Aurora as Mender moved to examine his Mistress.

 "Easy, Aurora, easy. Let Mender see." He soothed, applying gentle but steady
pressure with one hand to her shoulder, the other to her thigh to get her to
uncurl enough so that he could see the injury.

 Nephlyte's face filled with fury as he saw the rose, its stem embedded all
the way to the bloom above her left hip. That was Tuxedo's trademark, without
a doubt. But why was it black? It didn't matter. He would kill him the next
time he saw him. And slowly. This he swore on the Dark Force he served.

 Mender's face was calm, but the fury in his eye's matched Nephlyte's own as
he moved her hands to probe the wound. That brought Aurora back to full
consciousness. She pushed at Mender's hands.

 "Don't, that hurts!" She struggled to sit all the way up.  Someone held her
back. She glared up, then sighed and relaxed back against him as she realized
who held her. "Nephlyte? Oh, thank God!"

 He raised his eyebrows, a little startled at her choice of oaths. "Yes, I'm
here." He wasn't sure what to do or say to offer her comfort. "What
happened?"

 "This youma just dropped out of the sky and attacked Shadow-spawn while he
was feeding. I couldn't just let him hurt my youma. He's mine!" There was a
fever bright glaze to her eyes now and heat was radiating off her. Nephlyte
gave Mender a troubled glance as Aurora turned her head and reached out
toward the horse-youma who pressed his soft nose into her open palm. 

 "This has to come out, Aurora. Now." Mender told them as he frowned at the
rose. He could see it's dark magic slowly poisoning her body.

 Aurora lifted her head to frowned down at it with him. How could something
so simple as a rose hurt so much? "O.K." She answered in a small voice.

 "Hold her still, Nephlyte. This will hurt. Aurora, lie as straight and flat
as you can."

 "Give me your hands, Aurora." Nephlyte commanded in a gentle voice. He took
her left one, put it so the palm rested just below her throat, wrapped his
left arm around her left shoulder and across her chest, trapping it there
with his forearm. He just gathered the right one in his own.

 Mender sat on her legs, just above her knees. "Ready?"

 Aurora took a deep breath, closed her eyes and nodded.

 She pressed hard back against his chest, the fingers of her right hand
closing around his own with almost painful pressure as Mender began to draw
the rose out of her. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, yet she
didn't cry out. He was pleased by her courage. Such a brave spirit in such a
little body.

 "Almost out." Nephlyte assured her, keeping his eye's on the rose in
Mender's hands. She nodded her head with a quick jerk, then let out a long
shuddering breath as Mender held the rose up and away from her body. It
disappeared into a puff of black smoke.

 Nephlyte relaxed his grip a little as the tension left her body and she lay
back against him limp, only the intense pressure of her fingers around his
own let him know that she was still conscious as Mender moved off her legs
and started to undo the side laces to her pants, moving the leather down so
he could dress the wound.

 "Is it serious?" Nephlyte questioned, his eyes showing the worry he would
not let his voice reflect.

 "Serious enough." Mender frowned as he waved at his box of medicines and
bandages on the table. It floated through the air to land by his side.
"If..." his words stopped in startlement as the gray rose sparkled into
existence, the bloom forming over the wound, the stem molding itself to the
curve of her hip as the leaves grew vine like and wound themselves up and
around her torso, following the path of the poison that was spreading through
her system in the time it took to blink an eye.

 Nephlyte's growl died almost before it sounded as one of the vines wrapped
itself around his restraining forearm before he could react. Warm power
flowed into him and he felt some of his strength return. Then the gray rose
and it's vines were gone as quickly as they had appeared and Aurora's fingers
relaxed in his own as she slid into sleep with a soft relieved sigh.

 "What was that?" He questioned softly, more to himself than Mender, then his
eyes narrowed as he became aware of something different about Aurora.
Something that disturbed him greatly.

 Mender grinned, not seeing the shift of emotion in the High youma's face,
his focus on the wound, no longer fresh but showing the signs of many day's
healing.

 "A healing spell. Well, well." His pleased chortle was cut off abruptly as
Nephlyte's right hand closed on the front of the apron and shirt below his
neck and yanked him close. Mender gave a startled yelp, wondering what had
set the High youma off.

 "Why is she reading as a youma, Mender?" His question was calm and delivered
in an almost friendly tone, yet the rumble under it promised violence.

 Mender let out a mental sigh of relief as he answered. "It is part of her
disguise, Nephlyte. I had to hide her somehow. A Daughter of Man wandering
the Mender's house would have raised questions that others would want
answered. Questions that would have led to your discovery. See for yourself."
Mender reached a bony finger under the collar of her jacket, pulled the
yellow crystal into sight.

 Nephlyte let him go with a little shove away as he studied the crystal then
grumbled a few choice curses under his breath at his weakness. He actually
had to take it into his hand to read it's magic. What Mender had told him was
true. He closed his eyes in relief. The fear-filled thought that Aurora might
have fallen into the Darkness because of him and his weakness had made his
very soul hurt.

 Mender chose one of the gentler healing ointments in his case, applied it to
the wound with gentle fingers. She still tensed and made a soft mutter of
distress and tried to twitched away from the pain in her sleep. Nephlyte
frowned at him, but he just shrugged. "If she were youma, then I could just
put her in a pool for a few hours. But since she's not, this is the best I
can do."

 Nephlyte nodded in understanding but was still not pleased. He remembered
Aurora's warm fingers wrapped around his own as he had drifted in and out of
awareness, how she had run her thumb gently back and forth against the back
of his hand and how that sensation had soothed him, gave him something to
focus on other than the pain. He copied that motion with his own thumb
against the back of her hand now and was strangely pleased when it seemed to
work and her body stilled and relaxed, letting Mender continue with his
doctoring.

 The realization of how easily she could be hurt and the myriad dangers his
world presented to her body and soul worried at him. He needed to get her out
of here, back to the golden sunshine and gentle rhythms of Earth before she
truly fell into the Darkness.

 "How long have I been in the pool?"

 "Three weeks, four days. And I would guess you still need another five
before you totally regain your strength." He cautiously reminded the High
youma as he finished the bandage and began to lace Aurora's pants back into
place to help hold it snugly in position.

 Nephlyte ignored that for the moment. "What has been happening while I
mended?" He needed to know everything he could about what was happening in
the Dark Kingdom if he was to have a chance at getting her out safely.
Especially now that he had been labeled 'traitor'. He allowed himself a grim
smile. He had to admit that that label fit when his loyalties conflicted with
Aurora's safety.